In this hip, vital, and sexy debut, winner of the 2001 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Dana Johnson launches a fleet of wonderful stories across unexpected terrain, upending notions of race, class and gender in utterly original ways.
An eleven-year-old black girl from South Central LA discovers the strangeness of moving to the suburbs and falling in love with a white boy. A pair of enthusiastic middle-aged Iranian sisters debate whether or not their futures hold children. A punk musician falls for a girl out of his league. A black lap dancer gives up her job to move in with her Greek actor boyfriend, who hasn’t managed to get roles in anything but porn movies. Whether bold or rueful, salacious or sweet, each voice in Break Any Woman Down is vibrantly authentic; together they add a fresh and welcome chorus to American literature.
Break Any Woman Down by Dana Johnson is a modern classic. Winner of the 2001 Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction, these stories are authentic and honest. Sometimes honest in the most painful of ways, but all the better for it. Johnson easily captures the voices of black women of all ages--from the earliest days of elementary school to the older woman sitting on her porch and reminiscing about her child- and young adulthood. These stories are raw and emotional and will strike a chord with anyone who can sympathize with what it's like to struggle to find your place in the world or to navigate the rocky roads of relationship.
I find it more difficult to review short story collections. I feel like I ought to give a brief write-up on each story--but it's sometimes difficult to do that without giving the plots away. Let me just say that these are finely crafted stories and well worth the read. My favorites are the title story and "Mouthful of Sorrow." The characters are strong and dynamic. Four stars for a terrific collection.
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Much of these stories read like chapters from Dana Johnson's novel 'Elsewhere, California' which is a masterpiece of a novel. This is a solid collection of stories about relationships, interracial relationships and family in Southern California in communities were Black woman have to negative largely white spaces. The novel deals with fuck up'd casual diner party racism and in elementary schools and is about Black Woman enjoying their life by their own terms. Anyway read more books by Black Woman!
The women and girls in this collection are remarkable in their rather unremarkable, regular everyday woman ways and that is nice to see in a collection of stories. I like that the book began and ended with Avery who, as we learn in the last story, has indeed gone "white boy crazy." My favorites from the book were, 'Three Ladies Sipping Tea in a Persian Garden' which was such a cozy and warm story that made me wish I had a slightly older friend with a sister and we were all friends and just able to laugh and bullsh*t the day away. I loved the simplicity of all the stories, which is not to say that there was no depth, but the plainness of turning the lives that people lead everyday all over the world into stories is not always executed well, but the author managed this well. All the characters felt relatable, even if I didn't care for them, if only for their humanness. I also enjoyed, 'Mouthful of Sorrow' and it's tale of friendships changed and sometimes forever lost. There was a quiet wisdom throughout the story that made me feel as if I were sitting on my grandmother's porch hearing a story and learning a lesson. 'Bars' was another favorite because as someone who enjoys time to herself and sometimes sits in bars and restaurants alone, I felt a kinship with Norma. I also liked the contradictory nature of Norma and Andre being in this chatroom looking for one thing, but being disappointed by what they actually find. 'Something to Remember Me By' made me feel angry and annoyed by the narrator (I assume this is LaTrice since she's Norma's daughter and I don't recall seeing a name) but only because she was so realistic in her reticence, I know I would be annoyed had I been out with the three of them. However, dealing with death and the loss of life can cause all of us to react in different ways and I can only imagine how it would feel to be losing a cousin and friend so young to cancer. The book ends with 'Markers' and Avery who was infuriating, to me, in her treatment of her mother (although there were several relatable bits because, mothers) and her mealymouthed ways while expecting her mother to act in ways that she's not even acting in. I couldn't understand her relationship with Max and wanted her to leave or speak up for herself just as much as she wanted her mother to not be so resigned. What an interesting study in generational/familial habits and traits.
The common theme throughout this book is what it’s like to be a black woman. In almost every story, the main character is a young black woman and you see the world through her eyes. Through her stories, Johnson is trying to show the humanity of black women and their everyday struggles in a predominantly white world. In “Melvin in the Sixth Grade”, you meet eleven year old Avery, she is in middle school and though she may not realize it fully, the other children are nasty to her. She is constantly called names and picked on by the other white children. Avery doesn’t seem to mind, and she is doing her best to fit in with her peers.
Another theme that I found was that all of her characters felt a loss or lost in their stories. The most blatant example is in “Markers” where Avery thinks about finally going to her Mama and saying “’Mama,’ I’d finally say. ‘I’m lost’” (155). Each character is struggling with something in their life, and it stems from an unhappiness. Unhappiness about their job, their relationship, themselves or how they fit in. In the story, “Something to Remember Me By”, the main character is struggling to accept the fact that her cousin is dying. She refuses to face the fact that she is afraid and when he makes jokes about it, she lashes out and runs away. This story is also an example of the fiction shape “Iceberg”. The main character is definitely angry about her cousin dying, and she wants to talk to him about it, but she can’t force herself to. Instead, she lets him make jokes that upset her and tries to ignore the fact that he is terminally ill.
There are many examples of the shapes of fiction in each of these stories. The most prominent example can be seen in the story “Mouth of Sorrow”. There are three shapes that take place in this story: “Iceberg”, “Juggling”, and “Specimen”. In this story, Maybonne is telling her niece about her childhood best friend. Maybonne juggles between telling this story to the young girl and reliving it in her thoughts. She can feel all her old emotions rise to the surface and she feels nostalgia and regret for losing her friend. Maybonne also represents the shape iceberg, within her story she conceals feelings from her friend and doesn’t say everything she wants to. When she learns that Fella is cheating on Addie, she internalizes her feelings and represses them until they burst out. Maybonne also thinks that Addie will never leave her and when Addie says she’s moving in with Fella, Maybonne bursts and reveals her real feelings. The Specimen shape is the main shape of this story since the whole story is about Addie and Maybonne’s friendship. Addie is a unique personality and has affected Maybonne irreversibly.
The story “Bars” represents the shape “Day in the Life”. Norma enjoys drinking at bars by herself and she sees nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t mean she’s desperate or looking for someone. To her it’s what she does to enjoy life. This story takes us through how Norma experiences bars and what happens when she tries something new, such as online dating and then meeting the person in real life. At the end of the story, Norma is back to her daily life, sitting in bars drinking alone and enjoying herself.
The Story markers is a ten to fifteen year follow up to the main character of “Melvin in the Sixth Grade”. Avery has grown up and graduated from college; however, her boyfriend is fairly controlling and she relies on him for everything. Her story embodies the shapes “Onion” and “Aha”. It has the onion shape because there are many different problems that Avery has throughout this story. At the deepest level, Avery is lost and doesn’t know who she is anymore or what to do with her life. Above that, she is having problems with her mother and hates herself for leaving her mother alone all the time. The most superficial level is her relationship and problems with Max. They don’t seem to complement each other anymore and Max’s condescending control of her life is becoming a problem. The Aha shape comes into play in the end of the story when Avery realizes that she needs to start living her own life and that her relationship with Max isn’t going to survive much longer.
I liked the differences of the characters in each story. Every character had a unique story, a different background and an interesting conflict of their own. However, you could relate them to each other usually being that the narrator was a black woman. Other motifs that I noticed were family struggles, tension in the workplace and relationships. Johnson also uses her stories to show the double standard that women face in everyday society. One quote that represents this “kiss my black ass, because you either get thin, with stretch marks, or thick, with a big ass. You don’t get both” (55). Women are judged and upheld to be the beauty ideal. Men want perfect women, you have to be curvy, but not too curvy. But you also have to be skinny and curvy. Plus flawless skin. If you’re not a beautiful woman then you’re deemed less valuable to society and seen as less. The character La Donna who thinks this is trying to keep her man pleased, but at this point she’s beginning to realize that the demands can’t be met.
Another example of the double standard is in the same story, ‘”Break Any Woman Down”. La Donna and Bobby begin to date and he tells her that he doesn’t want her to work as a stripper anymore since she’s his girl. Fair enough argument, except for the fact that Bobby doesn’t tell her he’s a porn actor. La Donna can’t let other men see her naked, but it’s okay for Bobby to have sexual acts performed on him at his work.
I think I would like to try using the double standard as an example of how women are treating by society in my stories. I could feel an underlying feminist perspective in each story and I definitely want to incorporate that into my work. I think a good way to incorporate it would be directly like how it was in “Break Any Woman Down”. Show the double standard and then expand on it. Not only does Bobby expect La Donna not to strip, but he is going tell every detail of their sexual relationship to his best friend. Not only is that creepy, but Frankie now knows way too many personal details of hers and it gives him power of her.
One thing I think the author could do better is identifying the main character earlier in each story and more clearly. I was struggling to figure out the narrator in the beginning of each story and got used to the anonymity, so then when they were named, I was highly confused and thought there was another character. By identifying the narrator earlier, it lets the reader connect to them and build an emotional attachment. It helps to make the characters more relatable, easier to understand and empathize with.
I really liked this book and would recommend it to readers who enjoy realistic literary fiction.
Note: The shapes referred to are from "Making Shapely Fiction" by Jerome Stern and all quotes with page numbers are from the book itself (Break Any Woman Down).
Everyone knows I love short stories and short story collections – they’re perfect for my attention span and are often a great way to sample different authors’ works at one time, or in this case, a way to sample an author’s range of writing. Break Any Woman Down presents a series of various, distinct voices of all ages and from both black and non-black WOC experiences – the raw naivete of an 11 year-old black girl in South Central LA who’s still learning to navigate crushes and is beginning to develop an awareness of racism; the comfortable solitude of an older woman who’s more than happy to be drinking alone at bars on a regular basis; the scalding grief and subsequent denial from a young woman coping with the fact that her cousin is dying of terminal illness. While fictional, these vignettes are highly realistic, vulnerable, and often relatable, which is part of the reason why they appeal to me so much. Many readers will see themselves in and find a connection with the life-themes presented in this collection, and will easily get sucked in to the compelling and very real identities and experiences of the eight different narrative voices presented here.
Winner of the 2001 Flannery O'Connor Award, Break Any Woman Down by Dana Johnson, is a marvelous collection of short stories, all told in the first person narrative, that unapologetically showcases the lives of Black women and girls, as they navigate the adversities of life. I chose to read this book due to recently reading great reviews of her most recent novel 'Elsewhere, California', whose main character first appeared in Break Any Woman Down.
Typically, I do not gravitate toward short story novels. I feel that once I become familiar with the character and plot, the story is coming to a close. I prefer the multiple cast and viewpoints of characters, time periods, and themes of fictional novels. However, I was pleased with this body of work. It definitely reads like an award winning book. I thoroughly enjoyed Johnson's writing, and am looking forward to reading her most recent novel. I rate this book 3.5 stars!
Love the authentic glimpses into the lives of women. My favorite story in the collection was Three Ladies Sipping Tea in a Persian Garden. Such a beautiful capture of what female friendship can be. Made me miss my girlfriends who are family. Very strong collection overall from an author who I hadn’t discovered before! Looking forward to reading her other work.
I tracked this down solely for the Avery stories (Avery was the main character in Johnson's novel Elsewhere, California, which I loved). Melvin in the Sixth Grade was included in On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library, so I got this to read Markers. I am an Avery completionist!
This book is a collection of short stories told through first person narrative. The stories takes you through the everyday struggles of life, diversity in relationships; as well as how we as black women can be strong and vulnerable at the same time.
I'm crying because I'm afraid to leave home. I'm only seventeen, but I know that next time I see her, I'll be even more of a stranger. She'll be the same and I'll be different, and home won't be home. I can't say all this to her. I just say "Mama"
I read this around the time it first came out, and it holds up well--a modern classic of the short story form. Dana Johnson's power over voice and perspective is awe-inspiring.
Each story told from a different woman's perspective reminds us of all of the layered experiences different woman have. A few selections were anticlimactic, but overall good stories.
The writing made me feel as if I was watching these moments in real life. I feel Dana did an excellent job to make you feel the emotions that are felt in certain situations, or at least it came easy for me.
It was easy to get wrapped up in the characters quickly, which I loved.
The characters in the nine stories that make up Dana Johnson's Flannery O'Connor award winning debut collection, Break Any Woman Down, are primarily struggling with their place in the world and how their class and race inform their cultural identity. Many of the characters struggle with and against their families, while others fight against their environment. However, it's not fair to reduce these wonderful stories to simple themes. They are about this issues, but they are so much more than that.
These stories are real studies in "voice." Johnson employs many throughout, but the voices in the stories that bookend the collection, "Melvin in the Sixth Grade" and "Markers," are two of the strongest in the entire collection. The narrator of both of these stories is Avery, though "Melvin" takes place when Avery is in the sixth grade and "Markers" when she is an adult. The voices are different but clearly from the same person. (Avery is the main character in Johnson's novel manuscript. When I heard her read a few weeks ago, her agent was in the process of shopping it around to publishers. What she read was good, and I'm looking forward to reading it when it inevitably comes out.)
Of the other stories, "Break Any Woman Down," "Hot Pepper," and "Something to Remember Me By" stand out, but you can't go wrong reading any of the stories in this collection.
This was another book I picked up off of the borrow shelf at work (and another 3.5 rating). It had a sticker on the front noting that it won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. I like short stories and had recently read a few from my high school sister's "collection of short stories" she had for English class. They are nice to read at night because you can feel like you accomplished something. ANYWAY, back to the collection. This is a collection of short stories with distinct voice. All the main characters are women. The stories deal with issues of race, sexual/emotional relationships, parental relationships, identity...you name it. I think they are mostly (all?) set in L.A. with the majority set in present-ish time. The author does a great job created distinct and interesting voices. Read this if: you enjoy short story collections you enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies
I found this book after reading another Flannery O'Connor winner, "The Theory of Light and Matter" by Andrew Porter. I expected the stories to be female-centric based on the title, but I didn't expect them to focus on relationships so much. The stories, which have very nuanced characters, are like little windows into some thorny current/past relationship. They each have their own tone–youthful reminiscence, carefree, regretful–but still manage to strike a realistic balance of positive/negative emotion.
Only a few stories really stood out to me ("Melvin in the Sixth Grade", "Three Ladies Sipping Tea in a Persian Garden", "Mouthful of Sorrow"), while the others that had less compelling characters or story lines left me a bit bored. In any case, it seems like the stories that speak to you are a matter of personal preference.
The title story, "Break Any Woman Down", is really one of the best short stories I've ever read. The voice of it is amazing, genuine and sharp, and I love how subtextual the conflict is, so inexorable, and the ending is both a real ending and well-earned. Just amazing stuff. There are a couple of other good stories in the collection -- "Melvin in the Sixth Grade" and "Mouthful of Sorrow" -- but unfortunately even these suffer from the underdevelopment that characterizes the rest. Most of the stories are just not complete. Narratively, some part is missing, and if I hadn't seen what happens when Johnson manages to pull all the parts together, I might dismiss the whole collection. But when Johnson manages the highwire? That's a sight to see. I'll be looking for more of her work.
Perfect antidote for Avery withdrawal. I suggest reading the beautiful/funny/sad novel Elsewhere, California (my review coming soon) first to fully appreciate the rich voice, psychology of identity, and overall awesomeness which is Dana Johnson as a story teller.
My favorite stories in this collection are Melvin in the Sixth Grade, Break Any Woman Down, Clay's Thinking, and Markers--really love that one! They're all so different, but equally affecting. Makes me want to re-read Elsewhere, CA.
I was bored. I feel a bitbad for saying that, but it's true. There was only story that sticks with me from the whole collection of stories. A Mouth Full of Sorrow. That was an excellent story. the rest of them however, I just didn't connect to. I was really disappointed, I looked forward to reading this one. oh well...